• BMB Reports
• /
• v.46 no.11
• /
• pp.519-526
• /
• 2013

Dopamine (DA) regulates emotional and motivational behavior through the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. Changes in DA signaling in mesolimbic neurotransmission are widely believed to modify reward-related behaviors and are therefore closely associated with drug addiction. Recent evidence now suggests that as with drug addiction, obesity with compulsive eating behaviors involves reward circuitry of the brain, particularly the circuitry involving dopaminergic neural substrates. Increasing amounts of data from human imaging studies, together with genetic analysis, have demonstrated that obese people and drug addicts tend to show altered expression of DA D2 receptors in specific brain areas, and that similar brain areas are activated by food-related and drug-related cues. This review focuses on the functions of the DA system, with specific focus on the physiological interpretation and the role of DA D2 receptor signaling in food addiction.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.45-51
• /
• 2009

$\gamma$-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a ubiquitous nonprotein amino acid that is produced primarily by $\alpha$-decarboxylation of L-glutamic acid (Glu) catalyzed by the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (GAD). It is well known as a neurotransmitter that regulates inhibitory neurotransmission in the mammalian central nervous system. In addition, GABA has been proved to be effective for lowering blood pressure in mammals. This paper is intended to provide basic information about GABA, including the functional and biological activity of GABA, GABA production by lactic acid bacteria, and the utilization of GABA in the production of dairy products.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.12 no.sup1
• /
• pp.46-52
• /
• 2009

As the most common nutrition deficiency, iron deficiency not only causes anemia but also influences the central nervous system development. Its pathogenesis is supposed to be the alteration of neurometabolism and neurotransmission in major brain structures, and the disruption of myelination. The first two years after birth is a crucial period for cognitive, behavior, and emotional development with fast brain growth. If iron deficiency occurs in this period, cognitive and psychomotor function cannot be restored in spite of adequate iron supplementation. Thus, iron deficiency in infancy should be considered as a serious disease.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Sericultural Science Conference
• /
• 2003.04a
• /
• pp.49-49
• /
• 2003

DOPA decarboxylase (DDC), which converts DOPA to dopamine, is important for many biological event such as cuticular melanization, sclerotization and neurotransmission in insects. Recently, it has been also shown that DDC activity is correlated with pupal diapause in M. brassicae. The silkworm, Bombyx mori is a typical insect diapausing at early embryonic stage. (omitted)

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.155-161
• /
• 1998

Mood disorder is a medical illness resulting from the disorder of CNS neurotransmission and its principal therapeutic tool is pharmacotherapy. Psychotherapeutic drugs for mood disorder have some clinical limitations which are due to no or partial response, decreased compliance for drug by the side effects, and delayed therapeutic effects. So, general hope of all clinicians that mood diorder will respond to a single psychotherapeutic agent may be the exception rather than the rule. Recently, combined drug treatments have become increasingly popular to overcome the clinical limitations of individual agent in mood disorder. Combined treatments are usually used for augmenting or initiating rapidly the effect of drug, and for treating different target symptoms or drug side effects. When combined treatments being tried, knowledge of the action mechanism, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics is crucial to cope with the possible adverse reactions of drugs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.02a
• /
• pp.130-130
• /
• 2012

Axial bindings of diatomic molecules to metalloporphyrins involve in the dynamic processes of biological functions such as respiration, neurotransmission, and photosynthesis. The binding reactions are also useful in sensor applications and in control of molecular spins in metalloporphyrins for spintronic applications. Here, we present the binding structures of diatomic molecules to surface- supported Co-porphyrins studied using scanning tunneling microscopy. Upon gasexposure, three-lobed structures of Co-porphyrins transformed to bright ring shapes on Au(111), whereas H2-porphyrins of dark rings remained intact. The bright rings are explained by the structures of reaction complexes where a diatomic ligand, tilted away from the axis normal to the porphyrin plane, is under precession. Our results are consistent with previous bulk experiments using X-ray diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.295-300
• /
• 1995

These studies were designed to examine the effects of ginsenosides on glutamate neurotansmission. In primary cultures of rat cerebellar granule cells, ginsenosides (Rb1, Rc did not Rg1, $500\mug/ml$) increased glutamate release which was measured by HPLC. but HPLC, but Re did not shwo an elevation of glutamate release. However, all of these ginsenosides down-regulated N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-induced glutamate release. Rc strongly increased glutamate release and elevated intracellular clcium concentrations $([Ca_{2+}]_i)$ which was measured by ratio fluorometry with FURA-2AM. These results indicate that ginsenosides have a homeostatic effect on glutamate neurotransmission, and there is a structure-function relationship among the ginsenosides tested.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.65-69
• /
• 2010

Gene-environment interactions are important in pathogenesis of suicide or suicidal behavior. Twin and adoption studies and family studies show that genetic factors play a critical role in suicide or suicidal behavior. Given the strong association between serotonergic neurotransmission and suicide, recent molecular genetic studies have focused on polymorphisms of serotonin genes, especially on serotonin transporter and tryptophan hydroxylase genes. Some studies have revealed a significant interaction between s allele of the serotonin transporter gene and the risk of suicide attempt associated with childhood trauma. In addition, the polymorphism of brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene also may influence the effect of childhood trauma in relation to the risk of attempting suicide. Future studies should explore genetic and environmental factors in suicide or suicidal behavior and examine for gene and environment interaction.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.50 no.5
• /
• pp.237-246
• /
• 2017

Synapse is the basic structural and functional component for neural communication in the brain. The presynaptic terminal is the structural and functionally essential area that initiates communication and maintains the continuous functional neural information flow. It contains synaptic vesicles (SV) filled with neurotransmitters, an active zone for release, and numerous proteins for SV fusion and retrieval. The structural and functional synaptic plasticity is a representative characteristic; however, it is highly vulnerable to various pathological conditions. In fact, synaptic alteration is thought to be central to neural disease processes. In particular, the alteration of the structural and functional phenotype of the presynaptic terminal is a highly significant evidence for neural diseases. In this review, we specifically describe structural and functional alteration of nerve terminals in several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington's disease (HD).

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2014

Iron is an important element for brain oxygen transport, myelination, DNA synthesis and neurotransmission. However, excessive iron can generate reactive oxygen species and contribute neurotoxicity. Although brain iron deposition is the natural process with normal aging, excessive iron accumulation is also observed in various neurological disorders such as neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Friedreich ataxia, and others. Magnetic resonance image (MRI) is a useful method for detecting iron deposits in the brain. It can be a powerful tool for diagnosis and monitoring, while furthering our understanding of the role of iron in the pathophysiology of a disease. In this review, we will introduce the mechanism of iron toxicity and the basics of several iron-related MRI techniques. Also, we will summarize the previous results concerning the clinical application of such MR imagings in various neurological disorders.